Return To Jurassic Park
by Rachkmar
Summary: Based on the book series. After the events of August 1989 AKA The InGen Incident various attempts are made to restore the island and reopen the park. Can it be done? Please R&R. Thank you! Chapter 4 complete!
1. ACQUISITION

**Return to Jurassic Park   
1: ACQUISITION **

**August 1989: **

While visiting Isla Nublar, an island of dinosaurs also known as Jurassic Park, park owner and wealthy entrepreneur John Hammond is killed. His company InGen goes into limbo with the loss of his resort and the company files for Chapter 11 protection on October 5, 1989. To the public, this is simply just another startup company that went under. After evacuating the survivors, the Costa Rican government sent in military troops to destroy all things living on the island. Among the survivors are Dr. Alan Grant, a paleontologist, and his companion Dr. Ellie Sattler, a paleobotanist. They were called by John Hammond from a dig in Montana to check the resort along with John Hammond's grandchildren, Tim and Lex Murphy, and Ian Malcolm, a mathematician specializing in chaos theory who was brought by Donald Gennaro, a lawyer for InGen. For four years after what became known as "The InGen Incident", InGen tried, unsuccessfully, to salvage the park and reopen the resort and fulfill John Hammond's goal of bringing dinosaurs back to the world.

**June 1993:   
**   
Lewis Dodgson walked into the offices of International Genetics Technology, Inc. The building was a squat five-story building housing the domestic and international offices of InGen. Solid white except for a fat blue stripe circling the top and a large blue InGen logo mounted above the door.

At nine forty-seven at night, the logo was lit, welcoming Dodgson he liked to think. This was a moment Dodgson had dreamed of for more than six years, since he had discovered what his rival John Hammond has been up to since the early eighties.

The inquiries that Hammond had been making into the cloning of reptiles had made some waves in the bioengineering and genetic engineering community. Although cloning was probably ten or fifteen years off, John Hammond seemed to be very adamant about beating everybody else to the punch, and doing it quietly. Just what he was attempting to clone, and why, was a big secret; and everybody that worked for Hammond had signed a nondisclosure agreement. Even people involved in the project, but not directly employed by Hammond or InGen were sworn to secrecy for a period of no less than ten years.

As Dodgson pressed the button and began to wait for the elevator, he remembered what had caught his eye about John Hammond. It was all the super secrecy of the cloning project combined with the fact that it was even being done on an island off the coast of Costa Rica where the old man had supposedly been building a tourist resort.

Dodgson had wondered at the time what cloning reptiles and creating a resort had in common. His first thought was that the resort was a front to cover the research facilities. There were numerous records pertaining to the transfer of computers and other lab equipment to this island. At one point the American government had attempted to intervene on the premise that Hammond was selling the equipment; but as the island was completely owned by InGen, the movement of equipment was classified as a transfer within the company.

It was a little baffling, Dodgson thought as he stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor. Why should any company want to create a resort on a remote island where it would be difficult for people to reach, and make it only a reptile zoo of some sort. So Dodgson began to search for people that worked for InGen, especially ones that might be disgruntled and willing to talk a little about what was going on there.

It was close to two years before InGen finally caught on to Dodgson's plan and threatened legal action against Dodgson and Biosyn if he didn't stay away from InGen employees or if they attempted to access certain records. Hammond's bloodhound lawyers had picked up his trail and had cut him off, but not before he had the one contact he needed.

This contact came in the form of a computer programmer at Cambridge based Integrated Computer Systems. The lead programmer, Dennis Nedry, and Hammond had met for the first time professionally and their dislike for each other stemmed from that moment. Nedry was the best that Hammond could afford and Nedry needed the money, although the prospect of programming for a soon-to-be world-renowned park was a plus for future projects. Nedry had designed the Jurassic Park software from the ground up and knew every in and out.

It was in the spring of '89 that Dodgson had met Nedry for the first time and they had talked about InGen and what was going on at the island. In short, Nedry told Dodgson that what Hammond was really doing was cloning dinosaurs, not reptiles. The resort was built as a tourist attraction so that people could ride through in vehicles and stay overnight, observing the dinos in a somewhat natural habitat.

This information excited Dodgson. Where had Hammond gotten the DNA? And how had he solved the problem of completing the entire DNA strand? Dodgson had to get his hands on the DNA they already had. And then he could build his own theme park. And somewhere more convenient for people to visit. This was every gold mine in the world, and John Hammond had discovered how to tap it. And so, in the summer, Dodgson approached the subject of getting frozen embryos off of the island.

**July 1989:   
**   
"Absolutely not," was Nedry's reaction. "With all of the security procedures they have in place, it will be impossible. Even if I were to shutdown the entire system and get the embryos out of the lab, the security personnel would catch me before I got out of the building. And then there's the matter of transporting the embryos. I'm no genetic engineer, but I do know they need to remain frozen."

Dodgson smirked at Nedry. "Don't worry about keeping them frozen, I have my guys working on a design. It'll even get past customs agents they tell me."

"Even so, how will I be able to get past security? I can shutdown alarms and deactivate door locks. I can even hide my movements inside the building. But what about the personnel?"

Dodgson was always a quick thinker, and this time was no exception. "Well, if certain major investors got wind that their resort might not be as safe as they are led to believe, they might want to send in people - impartial people, mind you - that would give the resort a fair looking over. Security would be focused on keeping the tourists safe and probably not watching where one of their fellow employees travels to."

Nedry looked impressed. "You can do that?"

"I can do lots of things, my friend."

"I'm not your friend, pal," Nedry said, standing up from the table they were at. "I'll start preparing things on the island. Just make sure you keep your end. And keep supplying me with money."

**June 1993:   
**   
Dodgson grimaced at the memory of Dennis Nedry. That fat asshole had promised to get him embryos. But the stupid bastard had tried to cut things too close and ended up getting himself killed. Not that it was any great loss, Dodgson thought, but if Nedry had lost the embryos and lived, Dodgson would have killed him.

The elevator made a 'ding' sound and the doors opened to reveal the fifth floor offices, where someone would be waiting for Dodgson. He noted, with some disgust, that it smelled like sex. At a quarter to ten, the building was closed, the secretary's desk now empty. This was the reason that Dodgson and Lee had agreed upon the time. It was perfect for an invisible sale. And the sale of an island didn't exactly go unnoticed in the bureaucratic world of the twentieth century.

Dodgson rapped loudly on the doorframe to an office. The name on the door proclaimed it to be the office of James Lee and below that listed several of his titles within the company.

"Come in."

Dodgson opened the door to the office and saw that Lee was rounding the desk to greet him. Lee was a tall Chinese man with long hair and glasses. As Dodgson looked down to grip the man's hand, his quick eye caught a glimpse of the man's crotch then over at Lee's left hand, checking for the little gold band. His fucking zipper is still half way down, Dodgson thought, and he's married as well. But Dodgson's mind and eyes were so quick that all this happened within a half-second and a blink.

Lee let go and walked over to a minibar. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, I would just like to get this over with if you don't mind. The sooner I can get out of here, the sooner your secretary can come out of your private bathroom."

Shocked, Lee poured himself a drink then walked over the desk.

"My secretary? What are you talking-?"

"Oh, let's skip the bullshit and get straight to it. I want the island and the sooner you sign it over, the sooner I can leave and the sooner you can get back to fucking your secretary and pretending I didn't arrive early."

------

Ten minutes later, Dodgson walked out of the InGen building with a manila envelope tucked under his arm and a large grin on his face. What would John Hammond say if he knew, Dodgson wondered. The title he now held in his hands assured Dodgson that the entire island of Isla Nublar was his and his alone with all of the property still on the island. Buildings, vehicles, computers, everything. Even the dinosaurs. Now all that remained was to go see what was left. If the reports were true, that wasn't much.


	2. MAIN COMPOUND

**Return to Jurassic Park  
2: MAIN COMPOUND**

April 1994:

"Hang on, Dr. Dodgson," the pilot said through his headset. "The wind shears here are very strong this time of year."

Dodgson looked out of the chopper window at the trees and cliff face of the valley around him. The chopper rocked back and forth in the wind like a cradle with a baby. The area they were attempting to land at was the last surviving usable chopper pad on the entire island of Isla Nublar. The pad itself was built almost five miles from the Visitor's Center and Lodge. It was also built on the river at the bottom of a waterfall. According to the maps Dodgson had of the place, the waterfall spilled out from an isolated lagoon that formed from a spring.

There was a thump as the chopper landed on the pad and then the sound of the blades began to fade. Before thirty seconds had passed, Dodgson had unbuckled his safety belt and stepped out of the chopper, ducking to make sure he didn't get his head taken off. As he approached the edge of the pad he looked south to the inside of the island.

At this distance there wasn't much to see, but he did see at least one apatosaur head looking in his direction. There was no telling how many of the original dinosaurs still remained. Dodgson couldn't remember how many dinosaurs the island originally contained, but he did remember that it was close to two hundred and forty. God only knew how many there were now and Dodgson didn't care. He was there for eggs and any DNA that could be obtained by any other means.

In a document that Dodgson procured, a document never made public, it was stated that there were at least fifteen species of dinosaurs on the island. And there was always a batch of unknowns. Dodgson wished he had known about the unknowns before Nedry had tried to get him his embryos. He would have tried to make that fat bastard get him some of their DNA material as well.

And the document also stated that the dinosaurs had begun to breed. In testimony given by survivors, they stated that at least five of the species had started to breed.

Dodgson watched as a jeep raced up a path to the helipad. It was delayed briefly as two men let it through the large electrified fence. Dodgson had sent a team of men in to secure the island from the pad to the Visitor's Center. He was informed of their progress from time to time. He looked over and could see a section of the fence that had been repaired. A large power generator had also been setup just on the other side of the fence, so as not to take up space on the helipad side.

"Ah, Dodgson. How goes it?" asked the driver of the jeep as he stopped next to him. Dodgson recognized the driver as his chief of security for Biosyn, Mike Epson.

"Fine, fine. Is everything ready?"

Epson nodded. "Everything is setup as per your instructions. A team just brought back two eggs."

"Oh? What species?" Dodgson asked as he got in next to Epson.

"Velociraptor."

Epson and Dodgson passed through the electrified fence and were on their way to the Visitors Center. Dodgson looked over his shoulder and watched as the helipad disappeared into the jungle behind them then turned and faced forward. The setting sun cast rays through the leaves in a surrealistic fashion. To some, this would be paradise.

Occasionally he caught glimpses of people in the trees. Men dressed mostly in green and green tones and with large weapons. Dodgson recognized the weapons as lightning rifles. Epson had designed rifles that would act like cattle prods, except that the rifles could send out an electrical bolt up to one hundred feet and at a charge of over half a million volts. It was the most advanced version of a taser or prod ever developed and only Biosyn had them.

The only hope was that it would drive back dinosaurs, and according to some of the reports he received from the teams on this island the rifles worked - at least on the small and medium sized dinos. One report mentioned an incident where two men had driven off five velociraptors after being cornered in a small room. However, the rifle had yet to be used on the large creatures, such as a full-grown stegosaurus or tyrannosaurus.

"Yeah," Epson continued, "the raptor pen is part of the Visitor's Center complex. We thought we were going to have to go all the way down to the south beach where the raptors were last seen, but it turns out that there was a nest of unfertilized eggs that weren't destroyed when the military bombed the place."

Christ, Dodgson thought, was Epson going to talk all the way to the Visitor's Center? He knew he had a reason for avoiding him back in America, and maybe this was it.

"And it seems that they never sent in ground troops. We would have found definite remains from something like that and there don't appear to be any. The only deaths here have been natural, which means that we will have better luck in getting eggs and DNA and whatnot."

------  


  
Upon arrival at the Visitor's Center Dodgson and Epson were met by a stocky, muscular, young man with wild blonde hair. Dodgson couldn't remember the man's name but recognized him as one of Epson's men.

"Ah, Doctor Dodgson, welcome to Isla Nublar."

Dodgson climbed out of the jeep and went into the Visitor's Center while Epson stayed behind to talk to the young man.

"Anything new?"

"No, sir. We have men out collecting specimens of the maiasaurs, stegosaurs, and hypsys. We'll send the teams back out for more specimens when they return."

"Excellent. Nice job."

Epson joined Dodgson in the rotunda of the Visitor's Center. Dodgson was looking around, studying the area. Dodgson remembered the reports of how the raptors had gotten inside. There should be glass and carnage everywhere, but it was all clean except for scratches in the once shiny floor.

"There was glass everywhere when we arrived. Also several bodies, both animal and human. If you want to see the control room I'll show you."

Dodgson turned and looked at Epson.

"You mean you have this place working?"

"Partially," Epson waved his arm up the stairs and walked with Dodgson up to the second floor and down a hallway to a room with a glass wall. Inside Dodgson could see several banks of computers and a large electronic map of the island mounted on one wall in everyone's line of sight. There was a large red circle just to the left of the center of the island and a fat red dot inside of that. Epson pushed at the door to the room and it swung freely open, allowing Dodgson and him to enter.

"When they left this island before they just let the generator run until it was out of fuel. However, they left enough behind in sealed drums so that we could get the generator running for a few hours. We have power to run the park, but there's a problem with the fences. Most have been trampled or trees have grown through them. When we go to start them up they short out and shutdown. They built in a safety precaution so that we have to manually start the systems individually. So, instead of wasting time and manpower, my men and I just cleared the fences around the Visitor's Center area - the main compound as InGen called it."

"That's fine. I'm not interested in this island anyway. I just want the specimens and then to get out of here."

Epson looked at his watch.

"It'll be dark in less than hour. We've setup sleeping quarters in the lodge. Nobody will work after dark on this island unless it is either at the helipad or in the main compound."

"When will you start in the morning?"

"Just before dawn. We'll probably get up at about five and start preparing just after we eat. Would you like me to wake you up before we leave?"

"No."

"Are you hungry?"

Dodgson hadn't been hungry before. He wanted to come here and check the progress of everything first hand. Now that was over, he realized that he was indeed hungry. Ravenous in fact.

------  


  
Dodgson and Epson sat at a table in the lunchroom. One wall had been a glass pictorial of a dinosaur in the forest. It was impossible to tell which dinosaur now, as it too had been broken - only part of the forest remained.

"So, tell me Doctor Dodgson, why did you come here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you could have monitored our progress just fine from the mainland. You didn't even have to leave America to know what we were doing. All you had to do was give us a call."

"I prefer to handle my business with a personal touch. If you want things done right, you either do it yourself, or you supervise it. Right now, I'm supervising."

That was only half the truth, but Epson seemed to buy it. The other half is that after that fat bastard Nedry, Dodgson didn't trust anyone to do anything without trying to stab him in the back. He wanted to always be on hand to prevent just such an event. Dodgson knew that someday that it might get him killed, but it was a risk he had to take.

Dodgson stood up and went into the rotunda just as six men, each wearing thick camo clothes, walked through from the back with a large styrofoam chest. As soon as they spotted Dodgson and Epson, they stopped and made their way over.

Epson pointed to the crate.

"Are those the samples?"

One of the men nodded. "Yes, sir. Even got two extra samples. Rex had killed a Hadrosaur and we ran across it on our way to he triceratops. And, of course, we ran across a herd of compys eating it."

"Excellent. Just wheel it in to the freezer and we'll take it to the helipad tomorrow."

One of the men rolled the crate down a hall while the other five went out a door toward the lodge.

"Well, shall I show you your cabin?" Epson asked Dodgson.

------  


  
Dodgson sat on the edge of his bed, wondering what to do. He had nothing to read and no work to speak of, so he laid back and closed his eyes. He hoped everything was going to work as he planned. Dodgson could improvise lightning fast, but hated to do so. And why the hell did the perimeter lights have to be so damn bright. There were no curtains in the room and it was as bright as day. Anyway, it didn't matter since they were leaving tomorrow.

------  


  
Dodgson awoke and looked over at his clock: three in the morning. He sat up in bed. Something had awoken him, but he couldn't place what it was. He didn't have to go to the bathroom. He didn't hear any noise from outside, so he didn't think it was that. However, the lights outside had been turned off and his room was now completely dark except for the light that came in under the door from the hall and the light from his beside clock. Maybe that was it.

Dodgson laid back and closed his eyes and was almost asleep when he was startled awake again, and this time by a noise. It sounded like duct tape being pulled from the roll. Were they doing work out in the hall, Dodgson wondered. Why the hell would they be working on this place anyway? It's not like they were planning on living here.

Dodgson got up to see what was going on when he heard a thump and a scraping sound against the wall between the hall and his room. What the hell now? Had someone fallen off a ladder?

Dodgson reached for the door handle, but paused as he heard a snuffling sound. Had the dinosaurs gotten into the compound? Dodgson looked down at the light coming beneath his door. He could see shadows moving there. Something was definitely out there. Slowly, cautiously, - and to his amazement - silently opened the door and peeked out.

There was a raptor standing just outside his door, and it appeared to be eating something. But fortune smiled on Dodgson; the raptor was turned away from him. And there was a lightning rifle on the floor just within arm reach.

After staring at the raptor in stunned silence, Dodgson bent down and picked the rifle up slowly. As he did so he saw that what the raptor as eating was one of the six guys that brought the crate in earlier. It was in fact the man that walked over and spoke to them. May the poor man rest in peace, thought Dodgson as he pointed the rifle at the raptor and pulled the trigger.

The rifle didn't fire. All it did was whine in an increasing pitch. And attract the raptor's attention. The raptor - he, she, it Dodgson actually wondered - turned and gave a small roar, as if to say 'fuck you, it didn't work and now I'll kill you too'.

"Yeah, fuck you too," Dodgson said as the raptor took one step toward him - then was hit with a bolt from now charged rifle and collapsed onto the ground with a small growl and lay there twitching for a minute before becoming still. 


	3. ESCAPE

**Return to Jurassic Park**

**3: ESCAPE**

**April 1994: Continued**

It was shortly before two in the morning Mike Epson climbed up to the platform of one of the guard towers and joined Phillips, one of the men that brought the crate in earlier and the one that spoke to him and Dodgson.

"Hey, Phillips. Great job earlier. The way things are going we'll have all the samples we need by noon tomorrow."

"If everything goes right."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the hadro was the Rex's kill. He wouldn't just leave it."

Epson looked inquisitively at Phillips.

"I don't follow."

"Well, according to Grant's and the children's testimony the Rex was protective of its kills. Grant mentions where he and the kids were attempting to come back here via the river when the adult Rex began to chase them. However, when the little Rex attempted to claim a kill the big Rex had made, the adult broke off chasing them and went back to chase the young Rex off. So, I'm wondering what would have made the Rex leave a perfectly good kill."

Epson shrugged.

"Maybe some trikes came by."

"Yeah," Phillips said, "we thought of that. But none of the big animals were around when we got there. What happened to the Rex? I doubt if he forgot about his kill, his nose would have brought him back eventually. And soon."

Phillips looked over at Epson as he yawned.

"Why don't you go get some sleep? It's gonna be a big day later."

Epson shook his head.

"Nah, I like the night. Especially nights like tonight."

Phillips knew what Epson was talking about. Epson loved the mild weather. And tonight was a mild night. Cool and damp, the air was like liquid.

Epson and Phillips chatted for the next hour. It was almost three in the morning when Phillips looked at his watch. And that's when Epson sat forward, alert and his rifle at ready.

Phillips looked at him then out at the jungle in the direction Epson was looking, but couldn't see anything.

"What do you see?"

Epson shook his head.

"I thought I saw something move in the trees. I don't know. I just saw it out of the corner of my eye."

"Probably just the wind. We've had a light breeze off and on since sunset."

Epson nodded. Maybe that was it. Epson leaned back and turned to say something to Phillips and that is when the attack came.

The first of the raptors vaulted out of the tree Epson had been looking at and landed on top of the guard tower Phillips and Epson shared. Both men moved to the edges as the top partially gave way and one of the raptor's legs fell through.

Epson and Phillips raised their rifles to fire, but the raptor freed himself as they did so and they just missed.

Phillips moved for the ladder as Epson looked around at the other guard towers and saw that several of them as well were under attach. In the next one over Epson saw that one of the guys had been disemboweled and blood was running over the edge and down the ladder.

Epson looked back at Phillips just in time to see the raptor bend down from the flimsy roof and grab him by the back of the shirt.

Phillips flailed his arms and screamed in surprise for a moment, but before anyone could do anything his shirt ripped and Phillips fell, barely catching the edge of the platform and mounting the ladder.

As Phillips climbed down Epson raised his rifle and fired again, barely missing the raptor again.

The raptor turned his head to look at Epson with one eye before he jumped off the top and began to chase Phillips, who was now almost to the Lodge entrance.

Epson slung his rifle over his shoulder and began to climb down. He was half way down when the perimeter lights went out, shrouding the entire area in darkness.

------

Phillips ran through the door into the Lodge corridor and turned to slam the door shut, but a raptor threw himself into the door, flinging it open and causing Phillips to stumble.

The raptor looked at Phillips then sniffed the air, perhaps detecting some other prey. Whatever the reason, Phillips took this opportunity to scramble up and run.

Like a cat with its prey, the raptor waited for Phillips to get a few feet then launched himself at Phillips. But Phillips stumbled as he turned to look over his shoulder and fell to the floor again, the raptor landing just beyond him. So close in fact that as Phillips got up to run the raptor turned and whacked him with its tail, throwing Phillips up against a wall and causing him to fall again, this time dropping his rifle which clattered over by a door. Phillips rolled over and saw the raptor above him, the lights behind it causing the raptor to look like it was smiling.

And as the raptor raised its foot, its thick tail angled to the side for balance, Phillips knew that his life was over. He closed his eyes as he felt the weight of the raptor on his stomach followed by a hot searing pain start at his solar plexus and move down toward his groin.

------

Epson ran through the Visitor's Center toward the room where the samples were stored. He unclipped his radio from his belt to radio ahead to the helipad. They were going to take what samples they had and leave, and no amount of arguing from Dodgson was going to change that point.

"Helipad, this is Epson. Do you copy?"

"This is Aaron at the helipad. I copy you loud and clear."

Excellent, Epson thought. Aaron was one of the chopper pilots they had. And Aaron could fly at night. Or, rather, would fly at night. Epson always suspected that he wasn't quite right. At any rate, Aaron had flown several night missions in tight spots before.

"Aaron we are being overrun here at the compound and need immediate assistance."

"Roger that, Epson. Is there anywhere I can land nearby and pick you up?"

"Affirmative. There is a spot on top of the lodge large enough for you to land on."

"Roger that. I'll see you when I get there."

With that Epson clicked off his radio and clipped it back to his belt. He looked over at the large incubator in front of him. It looked like what it was; a large refrigerator turned on its back and mounted on a rolling cart.

Epson lifted the door open and looked inside. The samples looked secure so he closed the lid again and pressed some buttons and an electronic lock secured the door to keep it from opening. Then Epson moved to one end and began to wheel the incubator out of the room.

Dodgson edged his way out into the corridor looking both ways to make sure he was alone. He noticed at one end that a door was open and beyond he could see the main compound and the large fence that was supposed to protect them.

------

Some fucking protection, Dodgson thought.

Dodgson cautiously made his way over to the door and shut it.

No sooner had Dodgson closed the door when the door at the other end of the hall flew open.

Dodgson whirled, ready to fire, but saw it was only Epson with the incubator.

"Jesus fucking Christ, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry, boss. There's a chopper on the way over from the helipad. I'm going to have him take the incubator, you, and a couple of other people if possible and get back to Puntarenas."

Dodgson and Epson picked the incubator up and began to carry it up the stairs and to the roof.

------

Outside Dodgson and Epson carried the large incubator over to the edge of a clear spot, the gravel on the roof crunching under their feet. Dodgson looked around at the jungle and the compound. A slight fog had set in the jungle around the compound and, combined with the light of the moon, gave the jungle an eerie ghostly feeling. From time to time he thought he could see something moving. Always out of the corner of his eye, though.

No more than a minute passed before they head the rhythmic whump of helicopter blades and then as sudden a chopper broke the treetops and was quickly hovering above them. Two rows of lights mounted to the bottom of the chopper lit up and the roof was illuminated. They could see Aaron in the seat, illuminated by the lights, looking back and forth for a place to land.

The chopper passed sideways over their heads to the opposite of the building before finally venturing to set down. And it was then that Dodgson got a good look at the chopper and realized that it was too small to take the incubator. Aside from pilot and copilot, the chopper was only big enough to carry maybe four or five people.

Epson ran over to the chopper, ducking under the blades, and stepped up to Aaron, who had opened his door to get out.

"What's this? Where's the other bird? You were supposed to return with the other one so that it would be ready for taking the incubator back to the mainland. There's no way this one can handle that."

"I know, sir, but there was a problem with the ignition and it had to be put in for repair, but I called ahead on my way here from the pad and they're sending it out in a half hour." Aaron said sheepishly.

"Fucking Jesus," Epson rubbed his eyes and sighed loudly. He looked back to where Dodgson was standing, now with what was left of the men. Of the twenty that were here before nightfall, it seemed that only ten or twelve had made it.

"Alright, you five," Epson pointed to the five men on his left then pointed to Dodgson, "and you, sir, on the bird now. Aaron will take you back to Puntarenas. You can catch a plane back to the States from there. The rest of us will take the incubator and make our way to the helipad. Now get going."

Without delay Dodgson and the five selected men boarded the chopper and strapped themselves in. Epson stepped back as the blades spun up again and the chopper rose into the sky and eventually floated east and out of sight.

Epson felt a foreboding. Somehow, he knew, they would never make it off of the island.


	4. TRANSITION

**Return to Jurassic Park  
4: TRANSITION**

Part One: A Race to the Finish  
April 1994: Continued  
  
Epson sped through the jungle toward the helipad. It was only a few miles away and closeness of the trees to the path they drove would help to guard against attacks from the side.

After bringing the incubator back down from the roof of the lodge Epson and another man went and got two of the jeeps, somehow avoiding the raptors patrolling around. Of the eight men left, four of them took the first jeep and went ahead to prepare things at the helipad, while Epson and the other three loaded the large incubator into the back of the second jeep.

Epson slammed the brakes and caused the jeep to skid sideways, narrowly avoiding a large downed tree and sliding off the road in the process. Fortunately he didn't have to come to a complete stop. There was enough room to drive around the tree and Epson used the momentum of the jeep to keep going.

Epson stared ahead into the thinning fog, still luminescent from moonlight. Now that morning was approaching, visibility in the fog was increasing. There was a roar off to Epson's right, but it was unimportant. The only thing that mattered was getting to the helipad.

Epson's jeep burst from the jungle a quarter mile from the electrified gate that allowed access to the helipad – and stopped.

The two guys in the back seat stood up to get a better view, but what they saw was real and undeniable.

The Rex had come out of the jungle at the same time as them and charged the helipad, where the large chopper was waiting, blades still spinning down.

In a matter of seconds the Rex had charged across the clearing and smashed into the large generator that had been setup outside the fence, sending it through the repaired section of the fence. They watched as the chopper blades began to spin faster and the generator slid across the platform, narrowly missing the chopper, and fell into the river below.

The Rex, having not lost momentum, charged up onto the platform and grabbed the chopper by the slowly spinning blades and jerked it sideways.

Epson saw the first of the platform supports give way and come free from the ground. After that it was like watching dominoes fall as the platform collapsed, and the Rex and chopper fell into the river. From the jeep they heard the Rex roar in surprise.

**Part Two: Rebuilding from the Ashes  
May 1997:  
**   
Tina Bowman walked through the LAX terminal. At sixteen years old this was her first flight across the country alone. Her parents had wanted to come with her, but she wanted to do this alone.

Her parents worried about her, and with good reason in their minds. To them she was obsessed with nothing. But eight years ago the doctors' answers seemed wrong, misinformed. Even to her, an eight-year-old girl. The doctors seemed like they didn't know what to make of the drawing and of the information she gave them, but were too full of pride to admit that they knew nothing.

"A basiliscus amoratus" Guitierrez had told them. Some of the physical details were wrong, but it could have been nothing else. Later she found out that in another part of the country a nurse had chased off three lizards from a patient's room. All that the lizards left were three toed tracks.

And so, after redrawing the image, Tina began to write and fax various reptile experts the details she had. All of them had theories. A previously undiscovered variety of lizard that had been driven from the Costa Rican jungles. A mutation of the amoratus lizard. The list went on and on.

But after a month her parents told her she should stop. They said she shouldn't be obsessed with something as mundane as a new form of lizard. And besides, Tina was to go back to school soon and should focus her attention there.

It wasn't until 1992 that her interest in the subject was rekindled.

**September 1992:  
**   
Tina scribbled in the last part of the shadow beneath the lizard. Eleven years old and already she was a terrific artist. Several of her drawings had won awards in local competitions, and one was mentioned in a local paper, the Fort Worth Star.

Tina held the drawing up for a second, getting a different perspective on it, then stuck it beneath the clear plastic that covered her binder. She had decided to make the lizard in the drawing more fierce. It was in a running position, one foot in front of the other, the tail rigid behind, and the body leaned forward.

Chris, the boy that sat next to her, leaned over and looked at the drawing. "Wow, nice drawing."

Tina smiled. " Thank you." At their age girls and boys usually hung out with their own kind, but Tina and Chris were like brother and sister, although they didn't see each other outside of school.

Chris cocked his sideways to get a better look at it, scrutinizing it. "What dinosaur is that?"

Dinosaur? How could this be a dinosaur? Everybody knew dinosaurs were extinct. "What do you mean?" Where Tina was interested in acting, Chris was into dinosaurs. He would occasionally tell her of a movie he watched where a dinosaur at some prehistoric cavemen or of some dinosaur species he had recently read about. Most recently he had told her of a book by a man named Alan Grant, a paleontologist.

"Well, it looks like a dinosaur."

"No," Tina said. "This is a lizard I saw when I went to Costa Rica several years back."

Chris shook his head, looking at the picture. "I don't know. Are you sure you got a good look at it?"

"Yeah. It was at the edge of a beach in the middle of the day. It came out from some mangrove roots and walked up my arm. Besides, I thought dinosaurs were supposed to be large."

"Well, some of them were," Chris said. "There were also some that were small, about the size of a cat or a chicken."

"Do you know what it is?"

"I think it's a compy. That's short for comp-something or another."

Tine gave a short laugh. "Compsomethingoranother? I doubt that's a dinosaur."

"You know, my dad works for the museum as a paleontologist. He's one reason that I'm into dinosaurs."

Tina thought for a moment. "No, I did not know that."

"Well, Dad is supposed to pick me up today and take me to the museum. They got some new raptor bones and Dad promised I could see them."

"Raptor?"

"Yeah." Chris smiled real big. "Velociraptor, one of the fiercest predators to walk the face of the earth. But I wasn't going to talk about that. I was going to suggest that you show that drawing to Dad after school today."

Tina thought for a moment. She felt a little stupid for not having thought it a dinosaur, or at least some distant relative.

...

Ian Malcolm sat on the hood of the blue Mustang. Next to him was Mike Gartin, a local paleontologist in Dallas at the Natural Museum of History. In the past year they had struck up a friendship of sorts.

It was a chance meeting. Malcolm was returning from Costa Rica, having been there more than a year in the hospital. Malcolm was flying to Dallas and his plane had a stopover in San Antonio. Gartin was on business down in San Antonio and was catching the flight to get back to Dallas the same day.

Gartin recognized Malcolm on sight, and indeed occupied the seat next to him. Malcolm thought at first that Gartin was probably another fan that didn't know shit about anything he was going to say. It turned out, however, that Gartin had done research on the subject of chaos theory. In his research Gartin had read a paper written by Malcolm on chaos theory back in the middle eighties. Then another one about two years ago where Malcolm applied Chaos Theory to the running of a resort. The resort was not any resort, but an island inhabited by dinosaurs. Complete with tours and rides.

Gartin had thought the idea amusing, but still a practical idea that could happen with real life animals. The conversation they had on the short flight to Dallas that afternoon and given Malcolm some respect for this paleontologist. And since then Malcolm had called him up several times to discuss possibilities. Malcolm needed information on dinosaurs and Gartin was the best person for that at the moment. And he was also someone that Malcolm could get along with.

Now, Malcolm sat on the hood of the Mustang and watched as Chris walked from the school toward them, chatting with a young girl. Malcolm had met Chris once before when Mike went to pick Chris up from school, which he did fairly frequently. Malcolm squinted, studying her face.

"Hey, Dad," Chris said as he and the girl walked up to them.

"Hi, Chris. You remember Dr. Malcolm, don't you?"

"Sure do." Chris stuck out his hand and Malcolm shifted his cane to shake it. "Nice to see you again."

"Ditto," Malcolm said.

Chris turned to the girl. "Tina, this is my father, Mike, and a friend, Ian Malcolm."

Tina shook hands with each of them, introducing herself. "Tina Bowman, nice to meet you."

Bowman. Why was that name familiar to Malcolm?

"Show Dad that drawing," Chris said to Tina.

Tina reached into her backpack and removed a small three-ring-binder with a drawing stuck in the front. She handed it to Gartin and Malcolm shifted his position to see the drawing. Immediately he recognized it for what it was. The animal in the drawing was perhaps more fierce looking than the real thing, but it was unmistakably a compy. Right down to the coloring of its skin.

"I was wondering what kind of lizard this was. For years nobody's been able to give me a straight answer. When I got through drawing this today Chris said it looked like a dinosaur. What was it you called it?"

"A compy," Chris said.

Mike nodded. "That's what this looks like. The body's a little slimmer than I might have imagined, but it is unmistakably a compsognathus."

No, Malcolm thought, she had it just right. Maybe even a little overweight.

"Where'd you get the idea for the coloring?" Gartin asked.

"This is a lizard," Tina said, pointing to the drawing, "I saw down in Costa Rica about three years back. All the lizard experts said it had to be, uh, what did they call it? Bas-Basil-"

"A basiliscus amoratus," Malcolm finished.

Tina, Chris, and Mike looked at Malcolm.

"Yeah," Tina said. "That's it."

"Are you familiar with it?" Gartin asked.

"Yes, I am," Malcolm said. "And I can tell you the experts are wrong. This is not a basiliscus amoratus. I'm not so sure that it's a compy either."

"With the distinctive shape," Gartin ran his finger along the drawing, "what else can it be? And how do you know of them?"

"Well, when I was down in Costa Rica, a man by the name of Guitierrez came to visit me."

"Doctor Guitierrez?" Tina broke in. "Spoke with a southern accent?"

Malcolm nodded. "Yes, that's him. Anyway, among the things we talked about, when I was lucid that is, he mentioned that there were various reports of amoratus attacks all along the west coast of the country. Some of them had even been killed, and one of their bodies had been sent to him for identification. I don't really know much more than that."

"That's where I saw mine," Tina said. "A beach on the west coast of Costa Rica."

Tina looked at her watch. "Well, I guess it's time I get home." Gartin handed the binder back to Tina, who stuck it in her backpack again. She shook hands with Gartin and Malcolm and then left.

Tina Bowman, Malcolm thought. So this was the girl that Guitierrez had told him about. 


End file.
